Thursday: The Pipes are Calling

I'm back baby! Hell week is over and HJC week is going strong.

With the Olympics in full swing and both the Men's and Women's teams taking the ice, we've gotten quite a few looks at the controversial Nike designs in action. And, as much as I hate to say it, they're growing on me. Don't misconstrue this as me saying I like the designs, but they've gone flame a flaming pile of turds to a room temperature pile pretty quickly, so I give them that.

The Season is deep into week two with the vote ending tomorrow. Ottawa, Minnesota, Orlando, Toronto, Vancouver, Brazil, and Charlotte look to continue their wins streaks as many others look to bounce back from a tough Week 1 loss. Match-ups to watch are the Maple Leafs Affiliate Classic between the Marlies and Solar Bears as well as the Mega Match-up pitting Colorado, Ottawa, and Vancouver against one another.

Don't forget to keep checking the Jersey Casual page as Steve continues to release new designs for stickers and T-shirts. This past week, some of the best designs of the 90s found themselves a home on the page. Maybe they'll find a home on your laptops, boats, and kitchen appliances as well.

Speaking of stickers, check out our weekly podcast every Saturday for a chance to win a FREE HJC STICKER so you can support your favorite hockey design blog wherever your life takes you. Boats, Bots, even Baseball Bats... HJC looks good on almost everything.

As usual don't forget our weekly COTW vote ending tomorrow at noon.

REMINDERS:

COTW-January vote (ends Friday @ noon ET)

COTW Feb 2-8 vote (ends Friday @ noon ET)

The Season Week 2 votes (ends Friday @ noon ET)

On to the concepts!

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Ben S.- Florida Panthers

The Good:

The retooled leaping panther is a great look and I don't think anyone would complain in seeing it take center stage on a Panthers Alt
Leaping out from behind the chest stripe helps the originally vertically-focused logo fit better on the chest and gives it a great 3D look
I like the retro-look of the striping pattern. Keeps the Panthers with a chest stripe look, but one completely reimagined

The Bad:

Gold helmet simply doesn't work here. Keep it blue and call it a day

Double outline doesn't look great on the #OB. Typically I suggest a simple outline matching the jerseys main base when it comes to chest stripes

As much as I'm a sucker for a look devoid of white, I think this look could benefit from some injected into the striping to pair with all the white in the crest

Would like to see red and gold striping in the same pattern as seen on the jersey

The Ugly (Execution Issues):

Shoulder logos look large, but it may just be my eyes

Overall Rating: 7.75/10

Would never expect the Panthers to go faux-back with an alternate look. But this concept proves that even the unexpected can be a valid solution

Danny R.- Calgary Canucks

The Good:

Now THAT is how you do a chest stripe! The oversized chest stripe gives the Canucks a unique look that distances them from their current Vancouver copies.
The beauty of the chest stripe is that it allows a fairly simple away look to still have the right amount of color with all that blue in its center
Logo is framed beautiful within that field of blue
I'm a sucker for striping that is deceptively consistent influenced only by the background upon which it sits beautiful.
Chest Stripe has the added bonus of making managing the #OB really easy. Blue backdrop? Keep it white. Nice and simple.
Love the NOB and #OB on the jerseys here. Subtly giving the audience a bit of team history with the team name and founding year split amongst the two looks

The Bad:

My only complaint is that I can't stand the Adidas approach to the tie-down collar, but that's on them, not you

Overall Rating: 10/10

Yes please. Put these into production and send me one (of each). Not even gonna wait til the end of the post this time. Danny's Canucks Concept gets my COTW Nomination this week. Beautiful work.

Dannny R.- Calgary Mustangs

The Good:

NOB and #OB are worth mentioning again. Beautiful presentation idea there.
Calgary currently copies the buffaslug jerseys so any change is an upgrade. Sorry, Jets.
This look clearly draw's from the Thrasher's (Rest in Spaghetti. Never forgetti) edge look, which I never liked, but I think it works here based on the fact that its carried over to the away aswell
Font fits the logo and jersey style very well.

The Bad:

I'd fill the middle section of the back of the yoke in as well to better flow the color into the collar

Away set throws off the color hierarchy with so little light blue present

Overall Rating: 6.5/10

While working a little better than the original, this is really a straightforward adaptation of the old Thrash Threads, so its hard for me to give full points for originality

Noah K.- The Cadets